This is the 4th in a short series focusing what Israel’s earliest leaders, the judges, have to teach us. Today’s leadership lesson comes from a little-known judge of Israel, Ibzen of Bethlehem . . .
“After him, Ibzan of Bethlehem led Israel. He had thirty sons and thirty daughters. He gave his daughters away in marriage to those outside his clan, and for his sons he brought in thirty young women as wives from outside his clan. Ibzan led Israel seven years. Then Ibzan died, and was buried in Bethlehem.”
Ibzan. He came from and was buried in Bethlehem. He judged Israel seven years, and he had 30 sons for whom he brought in wives from outside his clan, and 30 daughters whom he gave in marriage to those outside his clan. I puzzled over this for awhile. The only thing I could see as being original in Ibzan’s history was the spouses he choose for his children. Just what did it matter to me if an ancient Israelian judge brought in wives for his sons from outside his clan? Just what leadership quality did THAT show? And surely the fact that he gave his daughters in marriage to outsiders has no impact on OUR lives!
But God was adamant: Read it again!
Reluctantly I obeyed. I read it a second time, then a third and a fourth.
“Nothing, Lord!” I said. “I tried, but I can’t get anything meaningful out of this story about Ibzan!” And with this, I rested my head on the back of the couch. Since I’d gotten up earlier than usual, it wasn’t long before my eyes were closing. But suddenly they were jerked back open by the vivid memory of my past. I had belonged to an exclusive church who believed that one of the keys to going to Heaven was to belong to their denomination. I vividly recalled how much time and effort this church had put into bringing God’s children from other churches into their folds, into trying to convince other Christians that the teachings of their churches were not correct, that only this denomination had the Truth.
Then my eyes went back to the text: “He gave his daughters away in marriage to those outside his clan, and for his sons he brought in thirty young women as wives from outside his clan.” Well, as a member of this denomination, I knew that I had spent plenty of time trying to bring “in” God’s children from outside my “clan”. But we would have NEVER thought to send our OWN people OUTSIDE our denomination! That would have been sending them immediately into eternal punishment! But here it was, right there in my Bible: “He gave his daughters away in marriage to those OUTSIDE his clan”!
Friends, as leaders and as Christians belonging to a variety of different churches, let’s not fall into traps of exclusiveness. Truth does NOT belong to one denomination or another. Truth comes directly from the Word of God. God brings us all into Truth, if we allow Him to do so, but He does it at different times and rates for each individual. The important thing is that we look to Him, not to our churches, and that instead of spending time bringing other Christians into OUR denominations, let’s put our efforts into pointing others, Christian and non-Christian alike, to the REAL Truth-to Jesus Christ!
“I am the WAY and the TRUTH and the LIFE. No one comes to the Father except THROUGH ME” (Jn 14:6)
Please see next Saturday’s edition of The Nugget for the next lesson in leadership, brought to us by two different judges, Tola son of Puah and Elon the Zebulonite . . .
In His love,
Lyn
Lyn Chaffart, Moderator, The Nugget, Scriptural Nuggets ( www.scripturalnuggets.org ), Answers2Prayer Ministries, www.Answers2Prayer.org
(To access the entire “Lessons in Leadership” mini-series, please click here.)